Automatic Watering System - Watering Bonsai part 2
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- Опубликовано: 3 июл 2024
- In this video I show you tips and best practices for setting up a watering system including the best timers, watering nozzles, sprinklers, drippers, and timing tips to keep your trees alive, healthy and vigorous. We also discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using an automatic watering system in your garden to water your bonsai trees.
The programmable timer I use in this video is an Orbit Buddy Two-Port Digital Tap Timer, available here:
UK - Orbit Buddy II HF - 2 port - amzn.to/2W8uoiK (approx £40)
UK - Orbit Buddy HF - 1 port - amzn.to/2XJ5oPC (approx £34)
US - Orbit Buddy II HF - 2 port - amzn.to/3o6CunU
US - Orbit Buddy HF - 1 port - amzn.to/3CN4S27
DE - Orbit Buddy II HF - 2 port - amzn.to/3CJRU5r
DE - Orbit Buddy HF - 1 port - amzn.to/3kCaztK
The drippers in the video are Gardena Micro-Drip System Adjustable Inline Drip Heads, available here:
UK - GARDENA 10 Drip Heads + end cap - amzn.to/3EPZBc8 (approx £12)
US - GARDENA 10 Drip Heads + end cap - amzn.to/3CYTr7Z
DE - GARDENA 10 Reihentropfer + endstopfen - amzn.to/3AGh0S9
The inline fertilizer dispensers in the video are Gardena Micro-Drip System Fertilizer Dispensers:
UK - GARDENA Fertiliser Dispenser - amzn.to/3i88wMf (approx £22)
US - GARDENA Fertilizer Dispenser - amzn.to/3ERHPFu
DE - GARDENA Düngerbeimischgerät - amzn.to/3kA8D4R (approx 15€)
These links take you to Amazon with my affiliate ID. So if you decide to purchase any of these items, you are also buying me a coffee without costing you any extra! Thank you.
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#bonsai #watering 
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Hi, and welcome back to part 2 of this watering bonsai video. If you missed part 1, you can see it here: ruclips.net/video/E2dBOrA7tOs/видео.html . Hope you enjoy this short video, and if you have any additional tips and tricks for your watering system, please comment here!
What a cool system, you did a fantastic job setting it all up, great information!!!
Thanks Nigel! I enjoy all the work, but have to say when we go on vacation all the bonsai are like pets, who's going to take care of them while you're away? 😊
Imagine trying to set this up for your bonsai Nigel 😂
@@katyb2793 😂 I'm sure there would be volunteers more than willing to do all of Nigel's watering while he's away.
Nice! Took me FOREVER to get it just right for a week trip. Bad news, I bought more trees and moved stuff around 😂😂😂 now I’m going to have to reword everything for the next time.
Cheers! and yes this is the problem, it makes it more troublesome to move them around or get new trees. But hey, I figure once a year I will have to reconfigure the whole lot anyway...
Boy, that sure beats my “single timer linked to a single overhead sprinkler” system! Well done Dave!
Cheers Colin! In previous years I've used overhead sprinklers and a wide shower spray over all the pots but each year I have lost one or two trees... just couldn't get enough coverage, or with big leaves directing the water away from small pots. It was a bit more successful last year standing the pots in trays in the shade, but that was not good... the water in the trays smelled disgusting after two hot weeks. So here it is, the drip system that spoils the appearance and makes it harder to work on trees! I think next year I'll build some brackets to hold the nozzles a couple inches above the soil without actually constraining the pots. There's always room for improvement and always another year! #thingsILearntFromBonsai 😉
Really nice setup 👍I just have a large sprinkler on a timer so I water trees and vegetable garden at the same time. That's quite the beautiful place that is in Madrid. 👌
Thanks J 👍🏻 Sounds like your large sprinkler is very time-efficient!!
Madrid has some very beautiful sites and a lot of Spain's interior... but sadly it's only famous for its coastal towns. Anyways thanks for checking in, I hope you're doing well.
That is a powerful set up. If I ever manage to escape to wamer climates I will be all over this type of set up 👍
Cheers Ian! Yep I totally get it, .. I used to live in Manchester many lives ago and for sure we didn't need any kind of irrigation system there, it rained for 12 months a year. So, are you thinking of moving somewhere warmer someday?
@@BlueSkyBonsai one day for sure!!
Aussie Dave here David, again very well presented here informative.. I did the same when I went to New Zealand for 10 days. All my bonsais survived 😉..good to hear from you again 😀
Hey Aussie Dave! It's an amazing feeling to get back and find all your trees have survived especially in hot summer. Good to hear it worked for you too. Cheers👍🏻
Hey Blue Sky you should make some videos on how to wire Bonsai.
Thanks for the suggestion! 👍🏻
Always great informative content. Thanks, keep growing
Thanks as always Matt!
Thanks for this viedo. Ive been struggling with my auto system. I never thought of wiring the tubing, that will change everything.
Thanks Bill, glad you found helpful tips here!
Your videos are getting better and better. thank you! gathering important people too, congratulations!
Thanks so much Papá Bonsaí! And anyone else reading this comment, take a look at Papá Bonsai's channel, if you know Spanish you will definitely learn some good bonsai horticulture!
That is a really clever idea! Thanks for sharing. I find the Gardena spray heads the best to soak all of the soil too.
Nicely done! I’ve not taken that dive yet. Maybe this year.
Thanks Dave! Let me know before you set up because there are some things I have learnt and will change this year. E.g. I need to make each bonsai's spray tubes independent of the bonsai so that I can take out the trees to work on them without having to unclip and extricate all the tubes each time.
Awesome!!
Cheers Edinborogh! 🍺🍺👍
My lazy man approach is to put the pots in a plastic kiddie swimming pool on the shady side of the house and fill it to about halfway up the pots. It’s best to experiment a few weeks before you leave to assess the effectiveness. I’ve found it works for about 10 days. You can view a video on this on “We are the bonsai supply’s” RUclips channel. That’s how they prepare when evacuating for hurricanes in Florida. Again,,, lazy but effective for vacationing. Good luck.
It doesn't sound so lazy if you have tried and tested it, and you know you can get it right. I could do that here in the Madrid for a weekend away, but not longer than that in summer. In the dry heat, the water would evaporate off in a few days, even in the shade. Re. the Bonsai supply, Jerome is great! I guess when there is a hurricane they must have to put all the trees indoors?
When evacuating you may not be able to return for an undetermined amount of time. In the house they would have no water source
@@BlueSkyBonsai I wonder if filling the pool with sand and then water would work better in Madrid ? I live in Australia and have been pondering how to manage the watering if I go away. Especially in summer when it can get to 40℃ easily!
@@katyb2793 yeah 40°+ is the problem here too. In the heatwave here the temperatures were going down to 30° at night. So even with sand I would be concerned about evaporation. Also still water stagnates fast at that temp. (But hey, stagnant water is better than no water!) I guess it could work for up to a week but I wouldn't risk it for 2.
There is something else I considered afew years ago, to dig little holes in the grass along the shaded side of the hedge, and bury all the pots just under soil level. The grass gets fully watered every night at 10pm + 4am, and the soil would be stay much cooler than air temp. But I decided that would be more effort than installing an irrigation system. Maybe if I were more sensible and had only 5 trees this would be a good solution 😁
@@BlueSkyBonsai lol! That does seem like a reasonable solution, but I think we all have too many bonsai right? 😅
Yes on 40℃ days I bring my maples inside and put them in the bath. They just wilt and look so sick even in the shade. I'm hoping they'll get a bit stronger as they grow older.
I wonder if putting down a layer of plastic around the bonsai on the sand would help with evaporation?
It's really not easy to leave them any amount of time unless you have someone reliable to water them!
Great video
Thank you!!
HI Dave, wow you have a great watering system! I didn't know there are mixer for fertilizer to add to tube. Thanks for sharing it
Hey, thanks for checking in! For some reason YT comments are not showing up in my notifications list at the moment so I just saw your comment in YT Studio unreplied...
The fert mixer works pretty well but it's a full flush mix; I would have preferred it to release the liquid slowly over a week or so. But despite that I am still happy with them because they're much easier than can-water-fertilizing every tree individually.
Amazing
Thank you!! 🙏🏻
Great video! There are some interesting water pump products coming onto the market lately for those spaces that don’t have access to a mains pipe or even mains power (battery and solar powered). Additionally they allow you to manually water whenever you want live over WiFi. I found using Gardena heads, regulators and connectors a real upgrade to my set up though. Finally I feel confident to go away without having to make plans for my bonsais. The next challenge I want to try is installing it all into a mini greenhouse with heating cables (for those cold periods) and full spectrum uv strips for the winter/spring care.
Thanks! I suppose an independent water pump also allows you to go away for a couple of weeks without worrying about bust mains pipe. That's always my worry. Greenhouse system sounds like a good plan.
@@BlueSkyBonsaiI hadn’t thought about that actually but you are right. I use a water tank not the mains water. I was thinking about the individual watering requirements of each bonsai, particularly with different pot sizes and possibly as well locations if it’s going to be really hot.
@@MK-hz8du there is another trick I do when it gets really hot out, that I didn't show in this video. For the pots with gardena drippers, to slow down the drainage out of the pot so that the water soaks all the soil, not just the soil under the dripper nozzle. I squeeze a bit of sponge into each drainage hole so they still drain, but slower. As soon as the summer heat is less intense in late August I remove the sponges. I suppose it's a bit like temporarily having more retentive soil, just for the hottest period.
Interesting seeing this as I am currently considering something along these lines for when we go on summer holidays/vacations as my neighbours would not be reliable.
Thanks Jason. Yeah I wouldn't rely on people unless they have their own bonsai. Other people tend not to understand the time and effort that you have put into your trees. A friend here told me he once left his valuable bonsai with his mum in charge of watering during a holiday, and she was putting the water in the drip tray instead of the soil surface, because that's how she watered her houseplants! Sadly it died and the guy has not got back into bonsai since then.
Anyway, if you do decide to install a system, please take my recommendation to set it up a few weeks before because it can take several days of checking to make sure all your trees are getting enough of water. I look forward to hearing how you get on!
@@BlueSkyBonsai thanks David. I would definitely want to trial it for a couple of weeks before trusting it to regularly water my trees while away - if only to be sure I had set the timer correctly 😄
@@TheBonsaiGarden well said 😂👍🏻
Luar biasa....terimakasih atas informasi dan tipsnya sangat bermanfaat sekali, salam bonsai
Terima kasih 😊
I recommend dipping the tubing in hot water or using a hair drier for fitting on the sprinklers. It's more convenient.
Another tip: Gardena products are nice but expensive. You can find similar stuff in proffesional stores dedicated to irrigation at more affordable costs. At least this is the case in Romania, but I expect this to be true all over Europe.
Thanks @Odd Bonsai! Yes I tried the hot water but I found it gets cold too quick. So I used a lighter / small flame - it warms up the tube sleeve in only 1 second! It's also true that Gardena supplies are not cheap, but they are very reliable. Compared to the gardena drippers, the spray nozzles I also showed in this video are not so good quality, some of the plastic around the mouth is not precise so a few of them don't spray evenly. So that's a choice we make - pay more for a guaranteed quality, or pay less and not have a guaranteed quality... Anyway I appreciate your comment here!
I like your channel Odd! I just watched the ficus Playlist yesterday.
@@BlueSkyBonsai Yes, it's true you only have a short time interval so you need to have everything prepated for assembly. I also tried the lighter but I always end up melting the tubing, lol.
The cheap alternatives you usually find in big stores are not that great as you say. But if you look for proffesional irrigation supplies you should find reliable alternatives. They are used for large scale house plant production so they must be reliable and cost effective. The bad thing that I forgot to mention is that usually you can't buy just a 10 or 5 pcs set like you can with products sold for home gardening.
I envy your patience to make a dedicated sprinkler/dripper for each pot. 👍 I mostly group several together around a sprayer. 😁
@@edinborogh Thanks, hope you found some useful info there 😁. I'm glad you're also watching Dave's channel he makes some of the best videos on bonsai care and maintenance. Always packed with information and straight to the point.
@@OddBonsai thanks again for your thoughts! Hey, does summer get really hot and dry there in Romania? I'm guessing you get similar kind of heat that we get in Madrid?? I found having the trees in semi shade helps a lot in July/August.. as well as dripping each pot individually as you said 😉
Hola Dave,
Consejos muy útiles, vídeo muy interesante. Es verdad que el riego seule ser problemático cuando no estamos en casa. Pero aquí en el norte de Francia, los veranos no suelen ser tan calientes como en Madrid.
Enhorabuena por tu jardín y por el espacio dedicado a tus árboles, es realmente chulo. Envidio la suerte que tienes de vivir en Madrid con un jardín tan agradable.
Un saludo desde Francia.
Y sigo mirando tus otros vídeos, me encanta tu manera tan sencilla y detallada de compartir tu experiencia.
Gracias de nuevo Christophe, agradezco mucho tus comentarios.
El riego automático es imprescindible aquí en verano, incluso cuando estamos en casa.. regar todos los bonsáis 3 veces al día manualmente es una locura! En el norte de Francia y arriba posiblemente sería mejor tener una persona de confianza ir a tu casa para regar una vez al día.
El sistema automático es perfecto para el tema de horario y fiabilidad, pero no es muy preciso en el sentido de cantidad de agua adecuada para cada árbol.
Hadir nyimak om terimakasih salam sukses
Thank you! 🌳👍
nice
Thanks!
Aussie Dave here David, when are you going to give us a update on how you and your bonsai are going 🤔🤗
Hey Dave, cheers for the nudge! Between family and work I'm not getting my quality time with my trees at the moment.. 😑 but I do currently have a video on the editing table... if the rest of this week goes well I'll be able to publish it this weekend... if I don't publish then you'll know it was a bad week! In the meantime I started posting occasionally on Instagram so you can see a few updates on there @blueskybonsai
Or for a load more pictures see: www.flickr.com/photos/davidhseymour/albums
Another GREAT video!! I’ve been thinking about setting up an automatic watering system for my bonsai’s. I’m hesitant because I have ZERO knowledge/experience doing so……. I see more pros than cons in having one set up. Roughly about how much did it cost all said and done? Over or under $500? Keep up the AWESOME VIDEOS!! I 1000% love em! Take care!
p.s. I wish I lived in Spain (zone envy) but I can’t be too jealous. I do have a great environment for growing bonsai. I’m on the west coast of the United States, zone 8b, in the Pacific Northwest
Thanks!
The whole watering system cost about €250 including 2 timers, plus tubes, connectors and nozzles. It cost a lot more than that in my time to set it up, but since I did that myself it was effectively free!
The one thing about automatic watering is that you really must have free draining soil and pots to avoid water stagnating and rotting the roots (as explained in Part 1 if this video series).
Thanks for your kind words!
Might not look nice but certainly keeps the trees alive when you are not at home.
Cheers Jack - exactly right! and I'm not going to take 120 trees and seedlings on the road with me everytime I go away!
Thanks for posting. Perfect timing for me. My grandson is building a system for my trees as part of a school project. Can you tell me what fittings you used to connect the small black tube to the larger diameter reddish tube. We’re hoping to use 15mm copper and connect the black plastic pipe to that so we don’t lose pressure. We have bought a kit from Amazon so have most of the fittings already. Really enjoy your videos.
Thanks, you're very lucky having your grandson building the system for you!
The attachments I used from the 16mm brown plastic tube to the 6mm black tubes was simple plastic barbed connectors in a pack of 100. They are slightly wider than the Hozelock barbed attachments, so they give me a bit more confidence; they won't pop out in a hurry. But even so, the holes in the 16mm tube are not completely sealed and some water and pressure must be escaping at the attachment points.
Thank you for your prompt reply
Dave, Due to the fact that all the hoses are exposed above ground I’m curious if that initial surge of water wouldn’t be scalding hot as the standing water in the hoses is heated by the sun. I know that when it’s hot outside I have to run my garden hose for quite a while to get it to a temperature suitable for watering. Thanks
Matt you are 100% correct! I set my timer so it's not watering when the tubes are in direct sunlight. Think I covered it in the vid 👍🏻
Hola Dave,
me gustó mucho su sistema, mas quiero saber si me puede asesorar en esto: lei en un articulo que dice que se debe de regar de 2 maneras, una por arriba del arbol y otra por la maceta, mi idea es usar ese timer pero usando 2 valvulas, primero que me riegue por la parte de arriba para abrir los poros de la tierra y después por abajo para regar a fondo, considera que es bueno regar usando ese método?!
graciass y saludoss 🙏🏻
Hola! En mi experiencia es innecesario regar por arriba de la hojas. Además, si usas agua de grifo, echas también los minerales del agua en las hojas, el carbonato de calcio no es malo en si mismo para una planta, pero en unas semanas ves depositos de cal en las hojas. Bloquean algo de la luz, y queda un poco feo en las hojas. Si utilizas agua de lluvia, o filtrado, no tiene este problema.
Hay una ventaja de usar dos sistemas diferentes para regar: si uno falla el otro puede seguir regando. Pero en ese caso, para que sea una ventaja segura, debes usar dos grifos diferentes, dos mangueras y dos temporizadores para que sean completamente independientes.
En fin, yo estoy muy contento con el sistema de riego por los "spray nozzles" encima del sustrato, también funciona para mojar el musgo para que se absorba el agua.
Espero que te haya ayudado! Saludos
@@BlueSkyBonsai lo tomare en cuenta, gracias Dave!
Is there anything wrong with setting up the watering to just come from above? Like, spray nozels set up above the trees, like on a shelf?
Yes it's fine to do that as long as enough water reaches the soil. For trees with tiny leaves or sparse foliage or a pot bigger than than the leaf canopy, it's no problem.
But, for example in summer my hornbeam has a leaf canopy much bigger than the pot, and the leaves cover over a bit like an umbrella! so a lot of the water from above just slides off the sides of the canopy onto the bench and only a relatively small amount trickles down to the soil. That's why I position the nozzles below the canopy on my trees with pots smaller than the leaf canopy. HTH
Nice video again dave! How do you deal with wind en watering. I have alot of wind where i live and my bonsai seem to be drying up very fast. I give them extra water but im still afraid to overdo it and the roots wil rot.
Also the foliage on some maple’s are gering crisp is this because of the wind or too much watering?
Thanks Jonne! Yes indeed wind dries a tree quicker because it speeds up the evaporation on the soil surface and the evapo-transpiration in the leaves. The maple leaves do go crispy around the edges in late summer, it's not a big problem although it spoils their appearance a bit. If you are worried about overwatering, get a pointy stick like a chopstick, and push it straight down into the soil, twist it a bit and pull it out. A bit like an oil gauge in a car engine! But that way, you can judge if the soil is only dry on the top surface, or if it's drying further down. In any case, I think it depends on your climate -- here in Madrid the air is so dry most of the year, that I know i can water as soon as the top soil is dry. But in cooler or more humid climates you can probably leave it for longer. PS. I have most of my maples slight sheltered from the wind, except for a large Orange Dream in a grow pot, which is more exposed to the sun and the wind, and that's the only one that is getting crispy leaves... hope that helps.
Thanks dave! Will try to put them on a less windy spot. Also defoliated the crispy foliage of the maples. Waiting for them to bud out again (:
@@jonnecleef5548 sounds good! Even if it doesn't bud out again this year I guess those crispy old leaves weren't feeding much energy to tree. Here in Madrid I have the first signs of yellowing on a couple of trees. So I'm not going to defoliate, I'll just let nature do it for me!
Oh the gardena fertiliser wont work multiple times? So you have to refill it every time you want to fertilise? Thats a shame i was hoping to buy it to keep fertilising during my vacation.
Yes that's indeed a shame I also thought the same as you, that it would add little by little. But no, it flushes the whole lot out in your next timed watering. It's still very convenient though, at feeding time.
Which spray nozzles do you use. Looks like Gardena, but I don‘t find them! 😣
I got some cheap ones from Amazon. Gardena would probably be better but I also couldn't find gardena sprays.
The gardena drippers are very high quality.
@@BlueSkyBonsai thank you. I found it! ☺️🙏
Hello, whats that white stain on your elm at 1:44? Mine has the same and I fear its something bad :-(
Hi, that's the only part of the trunk that stayed dry after a watering with a can from above the canopy. HTH
@@BlueSkyBonsai Then I fear it is something different in my case although it looks quiet similar. Mine is for sure not due to staying dry after watering :-( Anyways, thanks for the reply and for this video! Pleasure to watch!
@@nigeloni7094 maybe it's where the bark is starting to thicken? Or maybe lichen??
@@nigeloni7094 if you want you could send me a photo of it to dave@blueskybonsai.com ...I'm not a qualified plant pathologist, but I'd be curious to see what it looks like.
@@BlueSkyBonsai Thank you so much! I would gladly like to accept your offer! I am not at home today, but I will send some pictures over tomorrow. I was thinking about lichen aswell but I am not sure... (i am more leaning towards the "bonsai beginner side"). Thanks again!